"I never cease to be amazed that Jesus invites you and me, as His children and in His name...to come into His Father's presence, to crawl up into His lap by faith, to put our head on His shoulder of strength, to feel His loving arms of protection around us, and to pour out our hearts."
"Christians are now the foreigners in a post-Christian culture, and we have got to wake up to this reality if we haven't."
"On this first day of Christmas, we are the shepherds who run to the Lord. From our fears of loss and instability, from the anguish of troubled finances, from poverty we run to the treasure that will not tarnish nor ever diminish."
"It's Christmas Day. The quietness is shattered. God will never, never be silent again! And now the world must know the news."
"God enters creation as every human ever has -- but though the way is common, it is God who takes that way tonight, so the birth is uncommon indeed, a crack in the universe, and the baby blazes with divinity."
"People all over the world read the Bible because it is a fascinating book, filled with gripping stories and challenging exhortations."
"Almost every Christian, regardless of how they understand the Lord's Supper, agrees with this much -- Christ instituted it, and the New Testament commands his followers to celebrate it."
"The Creator of the cosmos became a fetus in a young woman's womb, and the Maker of heaven and earth became dependent on a young girl's breasts! For the Christian it is occasion to hide one's face in awe and adoration."
"Reading is a sage way to bump up against life. It is escape from the narrow boundaries of being only me. Reading in some wonderful way helps me find out who I am."
"Be it a stadium event or the four walls of a church for the Sunday worship service, the future is about the decentralization of the church to where it's every person in every domain of society in the pew connecting with domains and people globally."
"Most Christians don't know that 'Xmas' was first used by the early church and not invented as a shortcut used by merchants during the commercialization of the holiday season."
"The tree that can survive even the most barbarous winter has come to represent the everlasting promise of eternal life offered through Christ."
"Guess what issue is not on the top of church leaders' list of concerns for a church building program: security (actually, most of the time it doesn't even make the list)."
"As Islam, the religion of the Koran, continues to advance across the world, the need grows for greater understanding of the Muslim holy book."
"Through all the Advents of our life, we shall wait and look forward with longing for that day of the Lord, when God says, "I am making everything new!"
"Christmas is based on a historical reality; a mystery backed up by facts."
"Spiritual growth should affect relationship problems, emotional problems, and all other problems of life. There is no such thing as our 'spiritual life' and then our 'real life.' It is all one."
"If human beings were created for an eternal existence, nothing could be more important than finding out what that eternal future is all about and making sure that we are going in the right direction."
"For nearly 1500 years Christians have spent the days of Advent not in passive inaction, but in activities strenuous and profitable: they have prepared themselves by scrubbing and cleaning their lives, by examining and repairing their souls."
